Rialto – Neon and Ghost Signs Review

An unexpected return and a welcome one at that. Rialto spent decades as a reminder of how bright and brilliantly a star can burn, and how little time it takes to leave an impact. Neon and Ghost Signs is fuel to a roaring fire. Twenty-four years on from their last, and not the first artist this year to announce new material so long after. It is to prove the fire still burns, that those relatable moments and quality parts are not a flash in the pan. This was never in doubt and yet Neon and Ghost Signs looks to prove what we all know. Rialto pushes through with suggestive commentaries, a roaring instrumental style which calls back to the disco days, the fearsome change in the years behind. What changes will be made in the days to come, that is what Rialto wishes to understand here.  

Opener and lead single No One Leaves the Discotheque Alive swaggers through with a confident, booming instrumental. Rising synths, heavy percussion and an octave match of Leonard Cohen in his Death of a Ladie’s Man period. What more could you want? Braggadocious qualities remain. Neon and Ghost Signs is a stylish and slick piece of work which backs its attitude with slices of life. I Want You is as clear as its title would suggest. That longing click and wait which comes from being indefinitely connected to the online world. Its separation from the real world is attempted, the gutting guitar work as the title of the song is repeated, as clear a want as it gets in an overcomplicated world. This is the great contrast which makes the difference for Neon and Ghost Signs. Rialto makes those roaring, sudden instrumental sparks consistent. Suggestive, sly, but never sleazy. It all plays into the immediate want, the desire not to wait, not out of impatience but because time is not on the side of Rialto.  

They are grabbing what they can, not of their past but of what remains ahead. That is the key difference for Neon and Ghost Signs, it is what has the album stand out so well. Neon and Ghost Signs works best when it is steadfast in its tension, the feral and animalistic want. That is what defines the band. Those lighter moments, as heard on Taking the Edge Off are needed. A literal title which plays well with the lighter side of Rialto. Remembering to Forget does the same, the contrast found on its title expanded on wonderfully, blurring the line between soppy and stuffy. A nice route through to the heart can be found on Neon and Ghost Signs. Those art rock moments pair with the comparisons of love to the everyday stickiness of chewing gum, the perpetual state of waiting for the world to pick you up. 

But what happens if that moment never comes? Neon and Ghost Signs is a piece ripped straight from the days where nothing happens, but everything whirrs away in your head. Everything feels relatively steady, of acceptably thrilling quality for a return, before Sandpaper Kisses changes it all. A monumental moment, a clear high not just for the album but for the discography Rialto has pieced together. Brief it may be compared to artists around for longer, there is a defenceless heartbreak which defines the latter stages of the album. Neon and Ghost Signs is a charming album because of how human it is, how hellbent it is on righting the past. Not the wrongs of it, we learn from our mistakes, but the chances not taken, the fragility of idleness is explored with such a coaxing and consistent beauty. A heartbreaker, but Rialto are on their knees, helping us collect the pieces. Frontman Louis Eliot implores us to lose ourselves to youthful energy, no matter the time. It could be your last. This could the end for Rialto. If it is, then Neon and Ghost Signs is an admirable end.